Little Mr’s first… plane journey

Last week Little Mr and I went on a mini holiday abroad to Majorca with Thomson Holidays. It was his very first trip abroad and his first journey on a plane. Little Mr is becoming a bit of a traveller. He’s been on many trains, is an excellent car passenger and one of the main reasons why I put ourselves forward for the opportunity is that he travels really well so I hoped that his first flight would be as successful.

In all honesty, before the trip I was a little nervous and anxious about how he would find the airport and flight. I wondered how he would manage the early morning check in, going through security and the big question, how he would manage with take-off, landing and sitting on my lap for the duration of the 2 hour flight.

We checked in our luggage at 4am at Gatwick Airport and it felt far too early (I don’t miss those night feeds!). Little Mr however was wide awake. We had an awful nights sleep in the hotel so I was hoping he would be quite sleepy. How wrong was I? After check in, we queued up for security and at Gatwick they have a Families and Special Assistance lane which I thought was a good idea. It keeps families with young children together and doesn’t irritate any other passengers travelling without little ones.

Once at security, I had to remove any liquids from the changing bag. I was allowed to take enough formula and water or ready-made formula for the flight across to Majorca. Even though it wasn’t Little Mr’s usual time for feeding, his routine was all out of sync and it would definitely be needed on the flight. I placed the bottle of ready-made formula in the tray along with his bottle of water and my iPhone ready for screening. I was carrying Little Mr in the BabyBjorn and was asked to slowly walk through the security arch whilst carrying him. On the other side of the arch, I was asked to taste Little Mr’s ready-made formula. I was impressed that the security guard only opened the lid on the bottle enough for me to sip a little bit of milk so not to spoil the rest of the bottle.

After a quick dash to Boots to grab a jar of porridge for my wingman, it was time to board the plane. If you’re taking a little on in a buggy, you can take the buggy all the way up to the plane (and get it back at baggage reclaim along with your luggage)

You can tell how early it was from this photo!

I was lucky enough to be able to sit by the window for the flight and would definitely recommend sitting in a similar seat if you’re holding a small baby as you can rest your arm by the window. The cabin crew handed me an orange seatbelt for Little Mr and this was looped through my seatbelt and then around his waist. I made it loose enough to hold him but buckled well enough to make him secure.

The plane started to pull away from the terminal building and so I began to feed Little Mr. Luckily he was hungry and drank quite a bit of the milk whilst we were taxiing and this made him quite sleepy. He actually fell asleep as we took off and stayed asleep for quite a long time. I was able to watch the sun come up and rise into the sky from the window and watch the clouds lie underneath us like a fluffy duvet.

After an hour and 40 minutes sleep, Little Mr woke up and wanting to move about. I gave him a bit more milk and he seemed content enough to sit on my lap as he was watching BB (who accompanied us on our trip) sit next to us playing with her sticker book.

I fed Little Mr again as we were landing to prevent his ears from popping but he was absolutely fine with no trouble at all. He was completely a star passenger. I need not have worried about the journey as he took it in his stride and was all smiles as we stepped off the plane.

Coming home

The return flight however was not so calm. It was a late flight (10:25pm Spanish time) and Little Mr was awake but fighting the tiredness. As soon as we got on the plane and took our seat, my son left me a present. Yes, he had done the most almighty no.2 ever in his nappy and he was wearing a short romper so there was potential for leakage **PANIC** After a quick change and thanks to the 15 minute technical fault with the passenger bridge, we were ready for take off and I had bottle in hand. Que tired meltdown from Little Mr and glares from fellow passengers who I’m sure were thinking “Can’t you shut that baby up?” It took ages for me to calm him down and I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favourite part of the holiday. The flight was far too late for him, he wanted his bed and we [all] suffered. Sorry little man [and everyone else].. x

Disclaimer: I haven’t been asked to write this post, I’m recording every milestone with Little Mr including this one. All thoughts and views are my own.

5 Comments

It sounds like it went so smoothly with Little Man on the way there anyway – well done you. Such fabulous photos as well – especially love the one of the sun and clouds. Hope you had the most wonderful time. Sorry your journey back wasn’t as good. Thank you for joining in with #whatsthestory

About Me

Emma Shilton

Welcome to Life According to MrsShilts, a UK Family Lifestyle blog written by me, Emma // Mama of two gorgeous boys // Follow our journey as a family of four as we enjoy the small things and the fun times..x

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